The Castles Merge
by docturlough
Summary: When Cross academy is overtaken by Dracula, its up to Richter, Zero, Yuki and Yagari to stop him. Suggest new title please.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHORS NOTE: This work is set at the end of Castlevania: Dracula X from Richters perspective, and some random timezone in the Vampire Knight universe. I gain no money from this work, it is a work of fan fiction, all characters, themes and weapons are products of Konami and ****Hakusensha, no copyright infringment intended.**

As Richter cast a cross at Dracula, the dark lord was already rushing out of the main chamber. Richter held his whip over his head and gave chase, reaching the long hallway just to see Dracula turn the corner and enter the next room. Richter stopped at the doorway to the room and unsheathed his sword, preparing to vanquish this evil from his land. As he spun into the room, a sword in one hand and a whip in the other, he saw Dracula lifting the scythe from Death's lifeless hands, black lightening coursing through the vampires arms as he lifted it above his head. Richter gave a battle cry as he rushed at Dracula. Dracula brought the scythe down and it tore into thin air, leaving a dark hole, wind rushed towards it, pulling everything into it at a slow pace, but as the hole widened, the furniture leapt from the tiled floor and soared towards Dracula, who leapt into the darkness, Richter hot on his heels, dodging past Death's bones.

…..

At the Cross Academy, all was going to hell. A collection of over a hundred Level E's were gathering on the academy, luckily it was the dead of night and the day class was asleep, so it was up to Zero, Yuki, Yagari and Kaname to defend the walls of the school. It was then that it started to rain.

Yagari sighed "Alright, let's finish up."

He put his hat on and cocked his gun, before scaling the wall and taking up the position of watchman. Zero loaded the Bloody Rose and Yuki readied her staff, and then watched as Kaname scaled the wall on the other side of the massive gates, preparing to take on the Level E's.

"What do you think they're doing here, Zero?" Yuki watched the gates with fear in her eyes.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's important." Zero stated, turning and aiming at the gates, ready to kill the first thing to walk through them. Lightening struck thrice at the path outside the school, and one, purple and deformed, struck the roof of the school, which burst into blue flame, thick purple smoke billowing from it, which spun like a hurricane.

"They've stopped!" Yagari yelled.

Yuki and Zero watched the smoke clear and the fire die, leaving a vampire suspended in midair, his white hair flowing over his pale face and his blood-red lips twisted in a malicious grin. From the scorched rooftop, a human in blue robes leapt at the vampire, a sword clutched in his fist. The vampire grabbed him by the throat and the colour drained from the hunter's face as he swished his sword left and right, trying to make contact, eventually, he was able to scar the vampires face, who snarled and bared his fangs.

Zero had already scaled the wall, using his superhuman strength to pull himself up, and was training his Bloody Rose at the vampires heart. He fired, and the vampire vanished before the bullet hit him, leaving the hunter falling towards the cobblestone earth. Zero leapt from the wall and grabbed the hunter's outstretched arm, before landing on the great wall surrounding the school. The hunter landed in a crouch, sheathing his sword and standing, looking between Zero and Yagari.

"I see I am among the prepared. Good, this creature will be more than any of us have ever faced before." The hunter said.

"What is your name, friend?" Yagari asked him

"I am Richter Belmont, sworn to hunt and kill the monster Dracula." Richter stated proudly

"Well, Richter," Yagari sighed, looking back out to the path. "You have your work cut out for you."

Outside, Dracula stood, his back to one hundred Level E vampires, as he drew his rapier and roared a battle cry. The demonic creatures behind him snarled and yelped, and the all rushed the school, preparing to tear it down, brick by brick.


	2. Chapter 2

Hundreds of Level-E's collided with the academy's main gates, rocking them on their hinges. Dracula had no time for brute force, and scaled the wall in one leap. Before being able to pass over the wall, however, Kaname leapt to meet him, sending a forceful fist into Dracula's ghostly face. Dracula shook slightly as Kaname attempted to splinter the dark prince's skull. However, Dracula was too powerful, and gripped hold of Kaname's wrist, wrenching it from his face and pulling Kaname closer to him, before piercing Kaname's stomach with his long, sharp fingernails. Kaname's eyes widened and met with Dracula's, as the student's lifeblood drained from him, behind Dracula's vacant stare lay promises and hope, that only Kaname could see. Kaname accepted them, and fell to the earth.

Yuki yelped as Kaname hit the ground, sending debris in all directions. She ran to his corpse, tears welling up in her eyes, and leaned over her fallen saviour. His heartbeat echoed in her ears as it died slowly, and his head lolled to the side, she knelt by him and began her mourning, before slender fingers wrapped themselves gently around her neck, and then squeezed with incomprehensible force, blocking air from her lungs. She looked down and saw Kaname's once-warm eyes now black and dead, with his mouth curled in a sinister grin, the only Pure-blood Level-E.

The anomaly stood and held Yuki aloft as her sight blackened, behind him, he heard his master chuckle. From the wall, two shots rang out, and Kaname stood to see Zero Kiryuu and Richter Belmont rushing towards him.

"Those were warnings, Kuran," Zero warned, aiming the Bloody Rose with expert precision "I won't be so merciful next time. Step away from her!"

Kaname grinned, dropped Yuki and paused. Suddenly, he leapt ferociously at Zero, grabbing his arm so that his weapon could do no damage. Zero sent a fist into Kaname's stomach, and flipped him over his head, before slamming him into the ground. Zero aimed his gun once again, and Kaname stood, his hand still on Zero's gun-arm, both of them fighting for control. From behind him, Richter Belmont smashed a glass bottle across Kaname's head. The liquid inside burst into flames, which seared away Kaname's hair and ran down his face, scarring him, the pain overcame him and he collapsed, unconscious.

"Holy water is a useful weapon to have." Richter stated, a matter-of factly, throwing the broken bottle away.

Zero nodded and ran to the unconscious Yuki. He checked her pulse and then dragged her into the schools foyer, trying to wake her up. Richter dragged Kaname in as Yagari's voice rang out like a church bell.

"We have moments to go!" With that he flew down the ladder perched on the wall, then raced across the courtyard as the great gates began to heave and groan.

Yagari and Zero both stood at the open door of the foyer, guns at the ready. After checking that Yuki was waking, Richter took two blue crosses from his robes.

"What do you think those are going to do?" Yagari asked, aiming his gun at the gates.

"Watch and learn." Richter smiled, before running out across the courtyard.

When Richter reached halfway across the courtyard, the gates burst open and the Level-E's flooded in, gunshots rang out from behind him, and with every one, another vampire burst into smoke. Richter ducked beneath a clawed hand and threw a cross at a vampire, then threw the other in the opposite direction. The crosses burst through vampire after vampire, before ricocheting off the gateway and coming back to take more out. Richter drew his sword and cut at any who came to face him, parrying reaching hands and taking the arms off with deadly efficiency, all the while the front line of the vampire onslaught was being shot down by Zero and Yagari.

Inside the foyer, Yuki grabbed her staff in the attacking position and burst through Zero and Yagari, taking on any vampires who managed to avoid their bullets, she fought her way to the open gates, as Level-E's continued to flow freely inward. She downed as many of the animals as she could, red lightening bursting from the head of her staff as she fought them off, before finding herself back to back with Richter, who knelt to pick up a fallen cross.

"Finally awake, I see!" He smiled through intakes of breath. He drew his whip and wrapped it around an attacking vampire's throat, before piercing his heart with his sword. Yuki leapt off his strong back, prodding vampires in the face with her staff as she descended. She tripped and beat a vampire, using the anti-vampire magic in her staff to electrocute his face. The vampire howled in pain and his brethren leapt at her. Three of them were shot out of the air by the ever-vigilant Zero, while the fourth was pulled back by Richter's whip; she heard it die before it even hit the ground. She heard a battle cry from behind her, and turned to see a vampire rushing at her with a scythe in its hands. She parried a downwards strike from it, but the vampire used the hilt of the scythe to hit her in the stomach. The wind rushed out of her, and before she could react, the vampire was rushing at her again. A circle of blue flame encircled her, and the vampire stopped. Suddenly, Richter was beside her, rushing at the vampire. He jumped through the fire, and countered a swing with his sword, then wrapped his whip around the vampire's weapon, before attacking with his sword again, the vampire had no qualms about blocking the blade with his unprotected forearm, and fought against the hold of Richter's whip, eventually freeing his weapon. The two clashed against each other viciously, sparks flew from their blades, before, with a snarl, the Level-E rushed Richter, sending him against the wall, and rearing back to line-up a strike to his heart. The creature laughed its manic, animalistic laugh before bringing the scythe down. Richter gripped the weapons handle, struggling to keep it away from his heart, before landing a kick into the vampire's stomach, winding it and sending it back. Richter leapt at it and ran it through with his sword.

Dracula had watched his disciples war from the shadows for long enough, now that this beast had found Death's scythe, lost in the crossing of universes, he struck. Swooping down in the form of smoke, he landed in his normal form, facing Zero and Yagari. In his mind, he commanded Kaname to rise, which he did, silently, before Dracula changed to a bat and flew into the massive gateway, into the shadows, in order to watch Richter Belmont rush for the scythe as its last wielder turned to smoke. Dracula changed into his ordinary form again and dropped quickly, landing with the scythe between him and Richter. They both surveyed each other before Richter leapt at the scythe, he would, too, have leapt, but red lightening blurred his vision as Yuki Cross drove her staff deeper into his back. Richter reached the scythe first and reared up to drive it at Dracula.

Inside the foyer, Yagari and Zero fired on the front line of vampires, keeping them away from the school. Behind them, the bald and scarred Kaname rose silently and leapt at Zero, unable to hold back his basic instincts, Kaname snarled, which alerted Zero to his attack. Zero turned, swinging a kick into Kaname's side, and pressing him against a wall. Zero drove the barrel of the Bloody Rose into Kaname's forehead, his finger dancing on the trigger, contemplating the decision. After no more than a millisecond, Zero pulled the trigger, and all that met him was a faint click, signalling an empty magazine. The Level-E before him grinned its wide grin and drove the heels of its palms into Zero's ribcage, driving him back, Yagari turned to help, but Zero grabbed hold of the hunter's gun.

"Keep your eye on Yuki, I can handle this!" He growled through gritted teeth before Kaname was on him again, his clawed fingers going for his throat.

Zero dodged several of his attacks and eventually landed one of his own, punching Kaname in the face, before driving a forceful kick into his kneecap, breaking it in two. As the beast fell to the ground, groaning, Zero landed to punches in its face, then brought his knee up to his chin, knocking him backwards. Zero drew his sheathed gun again, and ejected the cartridge, loading it as quickly as he could as the moaning Kaname attempted to get back up.

"I want you to know, Kuran Kaname," Zero said, loading in the last bullet "I'll try not to take too much joy in this." He trained the gun on Kaname and pulled the trigger, just as Kaname's foot collided with his wrist, sending the bullet off course.

Dracula grabbed the scythe blade mere inches from his heart, then spun and slapped Yuki Cross' staff away with his other hand, he drove his fist into Yuki's face, and then left her for the Level-E's. He turned back to Richter, with his hand still wrapped in a fist. As he grinned at Richter, the Belmont's sword tore into his shoulder. Dracula roared in pain and drew his Rapier, fencing with Richter; he pulled the scythe closer and beat off Richter's sword, before wrenching the scythe from his grasp and flinging his cape open wider, sending three fireballs at Richter, who ducked beneath them. Dracula turned and flew away. As Dracula left, Richter saw the Level-E's closing in on Yuki, one with his gaping mouth close to her neck. Richter flung a dagger to the vampire's face in an underhand throw, then grabbed Yuki and pulled her to her feet, fighting off the remaining Level-E's with his sword.

"Zero!" Yuki yelled from beside him, and Richter looked to see Zero Kiryuu facing off with a bald, scarred Kaname Kuran. He fought off one more Level-E, before lining up the shot and throwing yet another dagger, which hit Kaname in the shoulder, giving Zero an opening to break his jaw and twist his arm behind his back, throwing him out of the foyer and pointing the Bloody Rose straight at him, before Dracula landed between them, throwing open his cape to let loose a flurry of fireballs. Zero fired at them and Yagari ducked beneath them. Zero rushed at Dracula and blocked his first sword-swipe with the Bloody Rose, but was unable to foresee being tripped up by his scythe. Dracula held his sword over Zero's head and prepared to plunge, but before he could, Yagari fired at the blade, splintering it. Dracula growled at Yagari, but before he could lunge, he found Richter Belmont's sword at his throat. He grinned at Richter, who scowled back. Yuki helped Zero to his feet and Kaname cowered behind Dracula.

"Die, monster!" Richter spat, "You don't belong in this world, or the other!"

"Belmont, you have already lost!" Dracula grinned, before spinning and plunging Death's scythe into the walls of Cross Academy. The shadow magic poured from Dracula's arm into the scythe, and from the scythe into the walls, which mutated and shifted, bearing a more gothic, and altogether more frightening persona. Dracula grinned at Richter, whose face was getting paler by the minute.

"Everyone out!" Richter roared, and he, Yuki, Zero and Yagari made it into the courtyard moments before Cross Academy morphed into Castlevania. The cobblestone courtyard now a grassy graveyard, Yuki, Zero and Yagari surveyed their alien surroundings, whereas Richter felt a chilling sense of nostalgia. From the earth burst three creatures, hairy and massive, muscles rippling beneath their fur, their faces that of wolves.

"I trust you have more weapons beneath that coat." Yagari inquired as the heroes steeled themselves for battle.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: LOL, I really beat Kaname to a pulp in this one, if you can't guess, I support Zero. Please note, I have only watched until Ep 3 of Vampire Knight Guilty, so if you're going to review this, and point out anything I say that conflicts with anything after what I have watched, please, don't spoil it for me. NO SPOILERS IN REVIEWS, PLEASE!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Okay, a friend made me aware that at some point after where I am in Vampire Knight (ep 10) Yuuki gets a scythe, so I'll clear it up, I refer to Yuki's weapon (Which I have learned is called Artemis) as a staff, the scythe in this story is Death's from Castlevania. In other notes, this chapter features a lot of exposition and talking, with little splashes of action here and there.**_

Richter dodged beneath the first werewolf as it leapt at him, his sword darting upwards and scarring the beast across the thigh. As it landed, Richter turned to it, in time to see its gargantuan fist strike him across the face, he collapsed in a heap as Zero opened fire, his anti-vampire magic ineffective and the bullets themselves doing little to pierce the creature's thick hide. The creature bounded towards him, so he sheathed his weapon and dodged a massive blow that came his way, he then shot towards the beast like a bullet, striking it across the jaw with a blurred right hook. Zero landed, facing the reeling behemoth, as it growled and prepared to attack again, Zero crouched low as the werewolf reached for him, he then sprung himself forward like a mortar blast into the creature's stomach, pushing it onto its back and throwing blow after blow into its snarling, frothing face, from behind him, Richter, his face bruised and bleeding, stepped forward, observing the werewolf with something like pity. He put his hand on Zero's shoulder, and Zero stepped off the massive animal, his face weak and his eyes a blazing red. Richter drew his sword and the creature's growls quieted as Richter plunged the sword into the wolf's heart, the canine cage that held the man within prisoner had been stripped of magic and of life, the creature howled and wailed into the moonlit sky as its fur and muscles fell away, leaving the scarred and malnourished human form beneath, dead on the ground. Richter and Zero stood and watched over him, before gunshots alerted them to the battle going on at the other end of the graveyard.

Amongst the crippled headstones, Yuuki had batted the second beast across the face with her staff, while Yagari was having just as hard a time shooting the thing as Zero had. Eventually abandoning that idea, he turned his shotgun over in his hands so he held it by its barrel and batted the creature over the back over the back of the head, drawing its attention away from the schoolgirl it had previously set its sights on. The beast roared and lunged at him, but, thinking fast, Yagari jammed the barrel of his gun down its throat, against its thick skin bullets had no effect, but at this range, and on the soft skin of its mouth, the bullet tore through it like tissue paper, the beast reeled and fell to the ground, the wound in its mouth bleeding profusely, Yuki batted it across the face one more time, causing it to collapse in a heap. Richter and Zero appeared at their side.

"Out for the count, guys!" Yuuki smiled at them, her usual cheer bringing light to the darkest of situations.

"I doubt that very much..." Richter mumbled, crouching beside the unconscious lycanthrope. Its eyes flew open before he had even checked them and it leapt at him, its jaws bared, everyone leapt back, all but Richter, who methodically pulled out his sword and held it out, the monster rushed into it without even realising its mistake until the intense pain took hold. Just like the last, a half clothed and weak-looking human fell from where the wolf stood.

"I know these people," Yuki breathed disbelievingly "I've seen them in the village, they own a store together, and now..." tears welled up in her eyes and her knees shook, before she could tumble, Richter rushed up and held her close.

"Shhh," Richter consoled her, "When we find the scythe, we can make it like the rift never opened, Dracula would have never came here."

"What about you?" She raised her head out of his chest to look at him with her massive brown eyes, "Will you go too, will we forget you?"

Richter didn't answer, he just stared at her, a deep sadness in his eyes.

...

Dracula observed his new army, Cross Academy's night class, all bearing the same blank, soulless expression as their dorm leader's. His mind control abilities were at their peak since he gained Death's powers to accompany his own. From the halls of the castle came a force to challenge these powers however, Kaien Cross, former vampire hunter. Dracula dodged his fist at such speed that no-one saw him move, it almost looked like Cross had simply missed, Dracula rose a knee into Cross' tailbone, and as he threw his head back to groan, Dracula grabbed his top row of teeth and threw him against the wall, its gothic shadows writhing to pin him to it. Dracula aimed the scythe at Cross and purple lightening flew forth from it, striking Cross in the chest and draining the life from his body, as he died, the castles shadowy tendrils pulled him into the walls, feasting on his lost soul.

...

They had gathered around the warm fire, the shadows of the graves around them cast back by its comforting flame. Richter and Yagari spoke of techniques and of weapons, while Zero and Yuuki stared into the fire, their minds elsewhere. From the haze of their minds, Yagari's words, though faint, stood out.

"So why is Dracula here, what does he want?"

Zero and Yuuki's ears pricked up and both their eyes fell on Richter, who noticed immediately, he shifted on the ground to face them and his eyes grew dark with a terrible reminiscence.

"In my world, not so different from this, Dracula rises from the dead once every hundred years, it is the sole purpose of the Belmont family to destroy him for another century, my father, Juste, was the last man to put him to rest, before he was resurrected with a desire to feed on the blood of virgins." Richter spoke calmly, and pretended not to notice that Zero had to restrain himself from salivating at the word 'blood'. "He kidnapped my love, Annette, and her younger sister, Maria, to feed on, and I was sent to destroy him. It was moments before the final blow was to be dealt, and Dracula ran, taking possession of the scythe of Death himself, Dracula brought himself to the one place he could find an an army, here, in your world, your ready supply of these 'Level Es' and the vampires here at the academy are a ready source of that army. He has changed your home into his castle, and is readying for something I cannot predict."

"But," Yuuki piped up, her voice unsure "How did he force Kaname-senpai to do those things?"

"Dracula is the perfect vampire, practised in necromancy, as well as other forms of magic," Richter explained solemnly. "he has the power to convince the weak minded to do his bidding, but I have never seen control like this, it is my belief that his power over vampires is stronger now that he has Death's scythe. These young men and women he controls are no longer under powers of suggestion, but slaves to his will."

Zero looked up from the fire, his eyes strong and pale, his control regained "So how are we going to stop him?"

Yagari stood and rested his shotgun on his shoulder, a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth, "We storm the castle."


	4. Chapter 4

Yagari sauntered cockily through the main gates of Dracula's castle, leading the group. From the ramparts, the masonry, still in flux, which broke off at the slightest touch, a massive stone brick crashed to the ground and Yagari, Richter, Zero and Yuki tensed for battle. Scuttling across the roof, Zero saw a small, hunched creature, and fired. The bullet hit the creature and it clutched at the wound. Struggling to go on any further, the creature keeled over and fell from the roof. Richter had rushed to the corpse before it had even hit the ground, though he still let it fall to the grass. He examined the creature's basic physiology, while the others caught up.

"What is it?" Yuki mumbled.

"It's a goblin. Dracula uses them as messengers." Richter said, dropping the creature's lifeless wrist before the corpse turned to writhing shadows, and gradually dispersed.

"What was that?" Yagari asked, astounded.

"No creature given life by dark magic can stay for long outside the castle walls," Richter replied, standing, his face firm and focused, "And Goblins don't travel alone."

The words hadn't even had time to register in their ears before Zero spun in place to face the front door, where Kain and Aidou now stood, their eyes a lifeless black and their lips curled into the malicious grins of the possessed.

"Hunters, I'm glad to see you survived," Aidou smiled, his voice a throaty growl, not his usual whimsical song-voice, "So that I may have the glory of killing you myself."

Aidou's mouth wrenched itself open with saliva dripping from his pearly jaws. He growled deeply as he shot at Richter, who fell to his haunches and flipped him over his shoulder. Aidou crashed to the ground and Yuki gripped Artemis with fear in her eyes.

"Don't hold back, Yuki!" Richter called "This isn't the student you know!"

Aidou laughed softly as Yuki readied herself. Before she could decide on whether to hit him or not, Aidou had created blades of solid ice descending from his frost-covered hands. He ran at Yuki with them shining in the moonlight, Yuki screamed and raised Artemis to defend herself, she successfully blocked the first strike, but Aidou brought his knee up into her stomach, at which point, Richter was suddenly behind him, the Vampire Killer wrapped around the student's throat. Aidou spun, his blades whistling in the air, as Richter drew his sword and flipped over Aidou.

Richter stood beside Yuki, his confidence inspiring her, so she held Artemis with less urgency, and her movements became fluid as Aidou came at them again. Yuki batted the first of his blades away and dug Artemis' head into his exposed wrist, the red electricity coursed through his hand and the ice shattered, Yuki saw her reflection in the splintering crystal, as well as the second blade moving towards her throat, cutting through the air with deadly speed.

Kain, paralleling Aidou, headed straight for Zero and Yagari, who leaped through the air to dodge his first fire-blast, then began firing wildly at the muscle-bound bloodsucker. Kain was no fool however, and focused his new, more powerful dark magic into his hands, causing the fire in them to burn white hot, while doing him no damage. Kain waved his hands in the air, and the bullets melted to slag when faced with the melting fire, no longer keeping their aerodynamic shape, the liquid metal dropped down and was solid before it hit the ground.

Yagari fired again, and the bullets were eclipsed again by Kain's reflexes and fire. Zero and Yagari moved in two different directions, circling him, but Kain turned with them, blocking off every opening and removing any obstacle in his path. Eventually, he grew tired of playing defence and curled his arms into his body, the dark energy coursing through his veins. The Hunters saw their chance and raced forward, their weapons primed. But before they got too close, Kain threw his arms out and fire exploded from his body, pushing them back. Yagari threw his hands in front of his face against the blinding light, and fell to his knees to try and go under the fire. Zero took the fire in its entirety, it burning every inch of him, and blistering his pale, fair skin. He tasted his own blood, and by the time his vision cleared, Kain was exhausted, and swaying on his feet. Zero struggled to make his charred feet move, and by the time he did, Kain was recovering, fireballs growing in his hands. Kain raced forward, his fists blurring, Zero luckily dodged the first blow, but the second hit him across his scarred jaw and sent him reeling. Zero collapsed against the castle wall as the possessed Kain moved in, his eyes burning with his hands. Zero reached between Kain's outstretched hands and gripped the vampires throat and threw him against the wall, throttling the life out of him. Kain's fire went out, and for a second the odds were in Zero's favour, before the pyrokinetic parasite pushed Zero backwards with a strength that matched his outer appearance. Zero fell backwards into Yagari, who was just standing up. As the two lay on the ground, Zero motionless and Yagari reeling, Kain strolled up to them, his fire returning and his grin cocksure. He put his flaming hands together, readying to vaporise them here and now. But Zero, using his last reserves, gripped Yagari's shotgun and whipped it up. He knew he wouldn't have the strength to aim, so when the barrel passed over the space he thought Kain was in, he pulled the trigger. Kain's chest caved in on itself as a purple symbol was scrawled in the air before him. The anti-vampire magic spread through him before he could react to it and he collapsed, his body crumbling to ash. When he had burst into a cloud of powder, Zero collapsed, letting his vampiric healing deal with the burns.

Aidou's blade had severed three of Yuki's hairs when Richter's knife dug itself into his shoulder. He flailed away from Yuki, and Richter was on him with his sword. The icy blade fell away from Aidou's hands, replaced by frosty shields, hooked spikes climbing from it. When Richter brought his sword in a downward arc, Aidou pressed his arms together, catching the Hunter's blade in the curves. The possessed vampire wrenched his arms apart and Richter's sword shattered. From the cloud of silver shards, Richter's boot shot up and made contact with Aidou's jaw, clamping his pearly, vampiric teeth together. Aidou was pushed back, but Richter closed the distance quickly, he threw punch after punch, not giving the night class student room to manoeuvre.

When Aidou's senses cleared, he fashioned a new weapon for his hands, spiked gloves. Aidou dodged Richter's next punch, and brought his pointed hands up between the Hunter and his prey. Now with better room, Aidou built momentum in his other hand, shooting it towards Richter with the power of a locomotive. Richter barely dodged the fist itself, but the pointed barbs surrounding it cut him across the face, and his blood shot into the air.

Moving with new motivation and vigour, Aidou attacked with his tough lolling out of his mouth. He attacked viciously. Richter barely dodged the spiked fists, but when Aidou began biting at the air, trying to get a taste of his lifeblood. Aidou brought his two fists together, and the ice balls shattered, Aidou controlled the ice shards, sending them into Richter's face, blinding him temporarily. Before Aidou could claim his prize, Yuki dug Artemis into the vampire's back. Red lightening coursed through the creature's body and he fell to his knees. While he was dazed, Yuki pulled the knife out of his shoulder, and reared back, tears welling in her eyes. Her heartbeat sounded like a drum in her ears, as Aidou began to stir, she saw she had no time to steel her resolve, so she flung herself forward, the knife moving with her and piercing Aidou through the heart. Yuki fell against him as he yelled out, but she fell to the ground as he burst into a cloud of smoke. Yuki nestled herself in the grass, covered in the dust of her schoolmate, she cried. Richter fell to his haunches and held her close, and she sobbed like a scared child into his chest. She wasn't a child any longer, she had grown more in that moment than ever before, her tears washed the ash from her face as they washed the fear from her heart, and when she stood again, turning to see the Zero, now with only a few white scars across his face, his arms over Yagari's shoulders, supporting him, she saw them through a woman's eyes.


End file.
